Feeling idealistic? The following job description recently appeared online at
www.idealist.org
, a global directory of opportunities at mostly left-leaning nonprofit groups.
Perivate Secretary to the Chairman IHRC
Job Category: Administration
Type: Full time
Description: The International Human Rights Commission need one Specialprivate secretary to the excelleny World Chairman for long term (10 years) fulltime. Who will travel, stay and live with him all the time, she will organize hisall meetings, travel plans, and family and organizational issues.
Please do not apply for this job if you are not ready to relocate and spendall your time with the chairman, The commission will provide all benifits.
Age of Applicant should be from 22 years to 28 years, should be female,indepandent, confident, and know all the skills of office mangement.
Please send your C.V, along with your date of birth, copy of Pass port andpassport size phot via e-mail only.
We will consider and get back to you for interviews.
The International Human Rights Commission? Isn't that theUnited Nations body that recently embarrassed the Bush administration byexcluding the United States from a seat for the first time since 1947? Thecommission on which former U.S. Senator Geraldine Ferraro served in the 1990s?
Well, no. Judging from a Web site written in similar broken English, theIHRC in question is an independent rights group set up by unnamedinternational leaders after a 1988 conference held in London. The site includes aphoto and bio of current World Chairman Dr. Mohammad Shahid Amin Khan, who issaid to be a 38-year-old lawyer and journalist born in Pakistan. No mailingaddresses or phone numbers are listed for the IHRC, and attempts to contactthe commission by e-mail were met with cryptic responses.
Staff members at idealist.org acknowledged that the job posting seemed"sketchy" and "questionable." Executive Director Ami Dar noted several problemswith the ad, including its stated preference for female applicants and its lackof specifics about salary and location. "I laughed out loud! Absolutelyridiculous! Bizarre! In six years, I haven't recalled such a job posting," hesaid. After the ad was evaluated by idealist.org staffers, it was deemedunacceptable and removed.
Idealist's program coordinator, Lorene Straka, explained that with a staff ofonly five, the organization has its hands full trying to monitor the hundreds ofweekly postings that come in from a network of nearly 23,000 participatingorganizations. Though staff members attempt to evaluate new postings each morningand to block those that are inappropriate, the system allows information to beentered directly onto the Web site before being reviewed, which has allowed theoccasional imposter posting. Straka says that the site, which is run by anorganization called Action Without Borders, also frowns on companies that try to"sell something to our nonprofit, progressive audience."
In the case of the "Perivate Secretary" listing, idealist.org employeesnotified the International Human Rights Commission that the message was notwelcome. A similar listing popped up a week later, however, and staffers onceagain removed it. Still, there was no official response from the IHRC answeringidealist.org's objections to the ad. Perhaps that is because 'His Excelleny'lacks a Perivate Secretary.
